Stan and Charmaine are a married couple trying to stay afloat in the midst of an economic and social collapse. Job loss has forced them to live in their car, leaving them vulnerable to roving gangs. They desperately need to turn their situation around—and fast. The Positron Project in the town of Consilience seems to be the answer to their prayers. No one is unemployed and everyone gets a comfortable, clean house to live in . . . for six months out of the year. On alternating months, residents of Consilience must leave their homes and function as inmates in the Positron prison system. Once their month of service in the prison is completed, they can return to their "civilian" homes. At first, this doesn't seem like too much of a sacrifice to make in order to have a roof over one's head and food to eat. But when Charmaine becomes romantically involved with the man who lives in their house during the months when she and Stan are in the prison, a series of troubling events unfolds, putting Stan's life in danger. With each passing day, Positron looks less like a prayer answered and more like a chilling prophecy fulfilled. Keep reading and be sure to enter The Heart Goes Last Fiction contest!

TOP FIVE WINNER for The Heart Goes Last Fiction Contest with Margaret Atwood, where we imagine what the lives of three characters were like before the great economic collapse. I've written about Veronica: A nineteen-year-old hooker at the Pixel Dust Bar, where Charmaine works as a waitress. Before the economy tanked and everyone lost money, she was a college student hoping to be a nurse. How did she meet her friend, Sandi? And how did their paths lead to the bar? In the novel, Veronica declares, "I work my ass off!" And yes - yes, she does. But that's no surprise, really, because in her life before the collapse, she did as well.

Finalist in Margaret Atwood's The Heart Goes Last writing contest! ********************* Veronica. Conor. Lucinda. The sun sets on another tumultuous day. As the world economy flails, the lives of three people will be forever entwined. Conor sets off on a new 'job'. One that should be easy but which quickly turns to hell. Veronica thinks she might have found a new flatmate, and perhaps even a new job. Lucinda's scored an incredible story, one that should see ratings go through the roof.

A finalist for Margaret Atwood's The Heart Goes Last Contest. "Retribution isn't pretty. But it is immensely satisfying." Lucy has known ever since she was a young girl that she was born with an expiration date. It's a fate that, according to her mother, no woman can avoid. Haunted by her mother's dire warnings, she makes her way in a world she believes will turn on her as soon as the bloom is off the rose. But unlike her mother, Lucy is ready to face this certain betrayal dead on. She's going to have one hell of an expiration date.

GRAND PRIZE WINNER in Margaret Atwood's The Heart Goes Last fiction competition! A prequel to Margaret Atwood's latest novel, The Heart Goes Last, and an entry in the Heart Goes Last Fiction Contest. In the days before the great economic collapse, Conor and his brother Stan share a few drinks at the local bar, PixelDust. But the differences that have shaped their past become even more clear as they face each other in a drinking showdown.